Digital Brands Practice Group

We counsel our clients in all aspects of how the internet affects their trademarks, copyrights, and brand identities, including issues related to behavioral marketing, user-generated content, and social media. By remaining on the cutting edge of this field, we help our clients protect their intellectual property interests through proactive portfolio management, defensive programs and aggressive enforcement.

We have the experience, resources, and tools necessary to protect your brands against cybersquatters, pirates, and those who would take a “free ride” off, or tarnish, a brand’s established image.

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Third Party Use/Online Infringement Audits

Do you know who has registered domain names or social media usernames or profiles with your marks in them? We can search available electronic registries to uncover unauthorized registration of infringing domain names (generic and country code). We can also identify where your marks are adopted as usernames or in profiles on social media websites.

We suggest recovery strategies depending on the terms and conditions of a particular website, the applicable dispute resolution policy of the domain name registrar or the governing legal system.

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Domain Name and Social Media Disputes, Acquisition and Recovery

We are one of the most successful filers of UDRP and other ICANN policy, and Department of Commerce policy complaints. In addition to ICANN policies, certain country code registries have informal resolution procedures, such as Nominet’s dispute policy for .uk domains. When devising registration strategies, we take into account which jurisdictions offer liberal, low cost recovery and which do not. We have successfully recovered domain names for clients in jurisdictions all over the world.

The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) is a powerful tool to recover pirated domain names and may also be applicable against infringing usernames on social media websites. Additionally, dilution claims feature prominently in any litigation strategy. Our Litigation Department has experience in bringing such claims and has successfully resolved such disputes during pending litigation.

Some domains or social media usernames are integral to your business name. Often, our clients wish to obtain a particular name without driving up the price by disclosing their identity. We have helped our clients with such matters by providing name valuation estimates, assisting in undisclosed principal acquisitions, and devising complex strategies.

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Online Advertising Abuse & Consumer Protection

We assist our clients with various online advertising abuse problems, including “keyword” advertising sales and priority. We also have extensive experience pursuing infringement of clients’ keywords by third parties. Many search engine companies provide keyword violation resolution procedures involving an in-house review of the infringed trademark rights and problematic advertisements. Many social media websites also offer redress when third parties utilize your trademarks as keywords or otherwise impersonate your brand in their usernames, profiles and postings. We also counsel our clients with respect to direct consumer Internet advertising and compliance with the Federal Trade Commission Act.

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Online Trademark & Copyright Infringement

We assist our clients with online infringements of intellectual property rights in general, including copyright infringement and enforcement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, trademark infringement and dilution, and metatag/hidden code abuses.

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Internet & Information Technology Transactions

We counsel and assist clients with respect to complex online transactions, including the preparation of agreements relating to intellectual property rights, web page development and other Internet-related agreements. We also counsel, draft and negotiate contracts relating to the supply of computer information, including software protection and licensing.

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Online Privacy

We assist clients in the development of standard industry privacy policies and terms of use conditions for their websites.

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Domain Name Registration Watch

Advances in searching technology continue to increase the ability of a diligent trademark owner to police its marks online. Consistent with the continued improvements in technology, Principium Strategies, Ladas & Parry’s preferred brand monitoring and ICANN-accredited domain name registrar, has domain name watch services to offer searching of available electronic registries (gTLD and ccTLD) for exact matches and variations of our clients’ marks.

Principium Strategies also offers a more comprehensive Internet Watch that includes domain names but also website, keyword and metatag uses. Please visit the Principium Strategies sitefor more information.

Worldwide domain registration and fulfillment of local presence requirements.

Analysis of current registration programs for adequate coverage due to new domain extensions, brand rollouts, geographic expansion and acquisitions/mergers.

Third-party domain content monitoring.

Comprehensive domain backorder and auction services.

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Portfolio Inventories and Consolidations

Through Principium Strategies, Ladas & Parry’s preferred brand monitoring service and ICANN-accredited domain name registrar , we consolidate our clients’ portfolio into our care to ensure uniformity of ownership and domain contacts and to ensure timely renewal. Principium Strategies has thousands of domain names under management.

Large organizations commonly have multiple subsidiaries that do not have a complete list of all of their domain and user names. Principium Strategies can audit all registries to determine which domains belong to a particular organization and its related companies.